THEY have been successfully used in London, Amsterdam, and Canada and now temporary open-air urinals are coming to Sydney to stop liquored-up late night revellers relieving themselves in public.

The City of Sydney is to trial temporary public urinals on Friday and Saturday nights in Kings Cross and Oxford Street.

The trial is an attempt ''to address some of the public urination issues occurring in [the] area'', residents were told in a letter from the council this week, and to help reduce the city's big weekend clean-up bills.

Sydney City Council is hoping a trial of open-air urinals will reduce the problem of men urinating in front of homes and businesses after a night of heavy drinking.

The portable toilets will be placed around Kings Cross and Oxford Street on Friday and Saturday nights for a month from next week.

Council spokeswoman Suzie Matthews says the locations were carefully chosen.

"This is where our cleansing crews are telling us they have to deodorise the most, basically. So this is where we know there are public urination hotspots," Ms Matthews said.

"The City over the years has received complaints from residents and business owners about literally people urinating on their front doorsteps, in their front gardens, on their building walls."

Ms Matthews says if successful the council will consider more urinals, but they will only be in place over weekends.

"So that means people don't have to see them during the day," she said.

"But they're there during that peak time when people have gone out, had a terrific night, desperately need to go to the toilet and instead of urinating on someone's front door step, they are actually able to use one of these portable urinals."

Despite the lack of privacy the new Dutch public urinals being used as a test during Rio's Carnaval seem to have pleased Cariocas and they should return in bigger quantity next year. The modules, which leave exposed most of the person using it, can accommodate four men at the same time.

They are being called mijódromos (peedromes) by Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes. Some men feel embarrassed to use them but they have been busy all the time. And they beat having to wait in long lines or pee on the street, something that can land you in jail.

Only 30 of the devices were installed this Carnaval. They were offered for free by Patent7000, the Dutch company that manufactures them. The model being tested in Rio is called Kros.

According to Riotur, Rio's tourism authority, the devices were place in the Sambadrome and in Ipanema. The collective urinals hold up to 450 liters (119 gallons) of urine with no added chemicals.

It has been mostly thumbs up for what is being called by some live pee. Rio's daily O Dia quoted military man Hugo Leonardo praising the contraption: "I've been there three times and didn't have to wait in line. The chemical toilets are hot and smell really bad."

Student Felipe War, 22, was also enthusiastic about the novelty: "It is simpler, requires less time and free the chemical toilets for women," he comments.

Not everybody approves of the new peedromes though. Some people cannot accept that the places don't have a door and they feel quite inhibited. "I spent a long time trying to concentrate because everyone is looking at you," said a user that wouldn't give his name.

Rio's Pee Patrol continued to arrest people who decide to relieve themselves on the street. Just yesterday 41 people were detained and booked for obscenity, among them 4 women. The arrests took place in Lapa, Leblon, Ipanema and Botafogo, according to the Secretariat of Public Order (SEOP). Since Friday, the first day of Carnaval, 172 people were arrested for using the street as toilet.

Patent7000 is being making the Kros in Brazil to sell it in Latin America. The company presents its product as a "plastic (polyethylene) urinal unit with an integrated tank with a volume of 450 liters (about 1500 individual pees!). Thanks to its advanced design and minimal weight (only 85 kg - 187 lbs), the unit is easily installed and removed after use.

"Each Kros offers the facility for 4 men to urinate at the same time in an area of just 1.15m². The open character of the Kros is a deterrent to inappropriate behavior while the partition walls give sufficient privacy.

"The Kros can be installed anywhere where there is a need for an effective urinal. Usually, the Kros is used as a mobile urinal. This is because it is easily emptied using the normal service trucks owned by toilet hire firms."

Patent7000 is pleased to announce that we will be present again at the Pumpershow 2008 in Louisville (USA).

The results of the 2007 Pumpershow were enormous. The Kros is still the one and only proven solution to all urination problems and has become more worldwide known and used. International sales quadrupled and new distributors were assigned, expanding the international operations of Patent7000.

Hereby we would like to welcome you to our booth (14007) in the East wing of the exposition center, where our representatives will give you a warm welcome.

Our international distributors will be pleased to share their experiences with the Kros in all continents of the world.

Patent7000 has expanded its sales program with tools that maximize the usefulness of the Kros. Our latest innovation is our revolutionary pump system which directly vacuums multiple connected “in use” Kros urinals, which upgrades the Kros to unlimited capacity.

Let us show you how to skyrocket your customer satisfaction and profitability of your sanitary rental business.